The best speaker you ever heard?


In my opinion, the speaker is by far the most important part of the audio system. After all, it is the only part you hear. OK, the other stuff really matters a lot, but without a great speaker... No go.

I am a bit 'speaker-obsessed' I guess, and now I am wondering: What are the best speakers you have ever heard, and what made them the best?
njonker
I think you ignore my point about how one can audition speakers, if not at a show. The gold standard is a prolonged audition at home, in your own system or a friends system, which is in a settled state. I repeat, that I will not take a dealer's time auditioning a speaker, just to confirm, it is not for me, and, or I can not afford it.

If one follows your stricture about who may comment on a speaker, then only owners are likely to qualify and reports will be universally positive.

Please also note, that I accept your description of the limitations of show auditions. However that is likely to be the only way all of us will ever hear many components on the market. I am sure most of us use a show as a way of winnowing out large numbers of possible choices, for a next purchase. It is imperfect, but the only practical way open to us.

Finally, please note I did not "rubbish" magico speakers or dismiss users as misguided or worse. I merely pointed out, that in my experience, limited as I admit that is, they were not for me.
So because you can't afford them "sterile"! You don't get them, "sterile"! Like my mother use to say, "if you don't have a well informed opinion, just say nothing!"
I'm just say'in ✌️
@Whatthe, your comment is fair enough. I just made the point that I think if you're relying on sub-par setups at a show to form a view about a loudspeaker, you're likely to be misguided.
@David12, I understand your constraints given you've got limited opportunities to hear Magico and other speakers in well sorted rooms. Fyi, I wasn't suggesting you can't or shouldn't proffer an opinion on those speakers unless you'd heard them outside show conditions. I just suggested that you should not be so effusive in your comments if you're relying on auditions at shows and should keep an open mind.
Magico speakers are transparent to source, linear and generally neutral in tonal balance, so they demand an owner take care in matching upstream gear. The old saying "rubbish in, rubbish out" applies. Thus when 'philes post descriptions like "lean", "cold", "dry", "sterile"..it is often the upstream gear which is to blame. You could say they are honest, though as I said the S series are warmer, fully bodied & have a more relaxed presentation than the Q series.
Whatthe, why are you being deliberately obtuse? I did not say the speakers were sterile because I could not afford them, but because I found them "sterile".

I have to repeat again, I am not aware of a qualifying number of hours of auditioning, required before one can offer an opinion. Please note, opinion of what I heard listening to the speakers. I did not dismiss them out of hand , as others would.
David12, do you have any suggestions for Alon Wolf to make Magico speakers sound less "sterile"?